I recently was at a lecture with Tom Golisano, the previous owner. Biggest laughs he got from the audience was when he said, "Hey, when I sold the Sabres, we were winning...don't blame me for this mess."

I also laugh every time I hear locals say "well I thought Pegula was so rich his was bound to bring lots of money to the franchise." Oh, as opposed to previous Fortune 400 owner Golisano and previous Fortune 400 owner John Regas?

The Third Man:I recently was at a lecture with Tom Golisano, the previous owner. Biggest laughs he got from the audience was when he said, "Hey, when I sold the Sabres, we were winning...don't blame me for this mess."

I also laugh every time I hear locals say "well I thought Pegula was so rich his was bound to bring lots of money to the franchise." Oh, as opposed to previous Fortune 400 owner Golisano and previous Fortune 400 owner John Regas?

Well, with Regas it wasn't so much "putting money into the team" as "taking every cent out of the team he could"

keylock71:Never really had any dislike of the Sabres until they acquired Ott and Scott.

At least Ott can play the game, Scott, on the other hand, has no business playing in the NHL.

Buffalo deserves to be in last place. Their fans deserve a better team.

I saw some stat during Milbury's rant that Scott has something like 5 points in 186 NHL games. I'm pretty sure if I laced 'em up I could acquire 5 points in 186 games. Just being on the ice every now and then you're bound to pass to somebody good.

At least Ott can play the game, Scott, on the other hand, has no business playing in the NHL.

Buffalo deserves to be in last place. Their fans deserve a better team.

I saw some stat during Milbury's rant that Scott has something like 5 points in 186 NHL games. I'm pretty sure if I laced 'em up I could acquire 5 points in 186 games. Just being on the ice every now and then you're bound to pass to somebody good.

/full disclosure - played hockey in university

Scott also has 324 PIMs in 187 games, and his average time on ice per game is a shade over 7 minutes - if you spend 88% of the game on the bench, and 2 out of your 7 minutes in the penalty box, you'd have a hard time scoring too.

/ban this goon now//this idiot gets three quarters of a million dollars a year to ride the bench and deal out concussions

rjakobi:I kinda liked how John Scott tried to defend himself after his suspension last night. He said "not the bad guy" so many times, I wasn't sure if HE got a concussion on that boarding call too.

I dunno, reading his quotes afterwards he actually sounded apologetic and remorseful. This is the FIRST suspension of Scott's career. He even admitted it was a bad play on his part, normally players pull the lines like: "It was a hockey play. Full speed and all. I'll have to see it on tape."Don't get me wrong. He's a giant slab of meat with fists, but looking at his career he doesn't cruise the ice looking to headshot players. Well, at least not until they drop the gloves. Scott's a lot of things I don't agree should be in hockey but I still wouldn't call him a dirty player. A dinosaur surviving from a different era of hockey, sure. Dirty, naw./not a fan of either team

TJWitz:keylock71: Scott, on the other hand, has no business playing in the NHL.

I'm pretty sure Chara's antics last night (that aren't getting any official look from the NHL) are why guys like Scott have a place in the NHL.

Please... There's nothing to look at. Chara cleared the crease. There was no penalty and no deliberate targeting of the head.If you think that justifies clowns like Scott being in the League, you don't know much about hockey.

At least Ott can play the game, Scott, on the other hand, has no business playing in the NHL.

Buffalo deserves to be in last place. Their fans deserve a better team.

I saw some stat during Milbury's rant that Scott has something like 5 points in 186 NHL games. I'm pretty sure if I laced 'em up I could acquire 5 points in 186 games. Just being on the ice every now and then you're bound to pass to somebody good.

/full disclosure - played hockey in university

Milbury's right... Scott's an embarrassment.

'Course, that's coming from old shoe beater himself, so take it for what it's worth... : )

puckrock2000:detroitdoesntsuckthatbad: keylock71: Never really had any dislike of the Sabres until they acquired Ott and Scott.

At least Ott can play the game, Scott, on the other hand, has no business playing in the NHL.

Buffalo deserves to be in last place. Their fans deserve a better team.

I saw some stat during Milbury's rant that Scott has something like 5 points in 186 NHL games. I'm pretty sure if I laced 'em up I could acquire 5 points in 186 games. Just being on the ice every now and then you're bound to pass to somebody good.

/full disclosure - played hockey in university

Scott also has 324 PIMs in 187 games, and his average time on ice per game is a shade over 7 minutes - if you spend 88% of the game on the bench, and 2 out of your 7 minutes in the penalty box, you'd have a hard time scoring too.

/ban this goon now//this idiot gets three quarters of a million dollars a year to ride the bench and deal out concussions

Worst part is having him around means other teams have to have simialr gorillas on their squad just in case. Must as I like(d) guys such as Colton Orr or Wade Belak the truth is they just don't have a place in the NHL. Probert, Furgeson, heck even Domi could put the puck in the net and play quality minutes. The 5 minutes or less players or todays game, on the other hand, have to go.

Case in point Cam Janssen. That little tool lays out Thomas Kaberle with a delierate(and late) head shot and shelves him for a few weeks. Janssen gets 3 games for it. 3 games. Kaberle at the time was plaing 25 minutes per game for the Leafs and was their leading scorer on defense. Janssen was playing barely 4 minutes per game and doing, well, nothing.

After Scott caused that nice little brawl in the pre-season another Farker suggested that a suspended players roster spot should be voided, meaning nobody can take their place for the duration of the suspension. I'd love to see the NHL start using that. I guarantee Scott and his brethren won't survive the year.

Flappyhead:Probert, Furgeson, heck even Domi could put the puck in the net and play quality minutes.

My go-to for this kind of player is Chris Neil. He's a legitimate player who can be physical if he needs to, but knows what the main point of the game is. By association, it's why I hated when the Sens signed Konopka. He had no business on that team and has no place in the league.

cameroncrazy1984:The Third Man: I recently was at a lecture with Tom Golisano, the previous owner. Biggest laughs he got from the audience was when he said, "Hey, when I sold the Sabres, we were winning...don't blame me for this mess."

I also laugh every time I hear locals say "well I thought Pegula was so rich his was bound to bring lots of money to the franchise." Oh, as opposed to previous Fortune 400 owner Golisano and previous Fortune 400 owner John Regas?

Well, with Regas it wasn't so much "putting money into the team" as "taking every cent out of the team he could"

I suppose he did get paid back in full in the federal penitentiary, though.

The Sabres are in the midst of a complete rebuild, and are thus terrible on the ice. Like many other teams that have gone through this before (including Pittsburgh, Chicago, Boston and others before their return to contention).

The Sabres are currently the youngest team in the league, and the organization is jam-packed with young players, rookies, and top prospects.

It's a lot of young talent. Two very solid drafts in a row in which the Sabres stockpiled high round picks. And looks like another very high pick this summer.

Honestly I feel better about the state and direction of this team than I did after they won the Northeast Division in 2010. They may be terrible at the moment, but they have totally rebuilt a core of talented young players to move forward with. Now all it will take is a little time for them to develop and gain NHL experience.

keylock71:TJWitz: keylock71: Scott, on the other hand, has no business playing in the NHL.

I'm pretty sure Chara's antics last night (that aren't getting any official look from the NHL) are why guys like Scott have a place in the NHL.

Please... There's nothing to look at. Chara cleared the crease. There was no penalty and no deliberate targeting of the head.If you think that justifies clowns like Scott being in the League, you don't know much about hockey.

Don't forget Chara's late, high hit on Wingels, not just the Hertl-smash.

The fact is that GMs hire guys like Scott because the league's disciplinary measures are a total crapshoot. Scott's a bottom pairing defenseman that gets a paycheck to fight, to enforce the unwritten rules and send a message when deemed necessary. He's really not out there with malicious intent to injure people - he's in his 7th NHL season, and has never before been fined or suspended. His hit on Eriksson is definitely suspendable, i'm guessing 4-6 games, asa first-time offender.

However, to argue that this guy is somehow a predatory hitter that is out there ending careers every night, so he doesn't belong in the league is the most ludicrous thing ever. The fact that Mike Milbury said it should be a huge red flag for how wrong it is. If Scott doesn't belong in the league, how do you justify guys like Kaleta,Cooke and Torres?

Or put another way: if the Kessel incident hadn't happened this preseason (coach got fined for that one), would this be under as much scrutiny as it is?

I have to say this. Look at all the other incidents this year that results in injuries. Why aren't all the experts out there calling for anyone elses head over those hits. Where was mike milbury calling for the head of Kessel when he used his stick as a goddamn axe this preseason. The fact is that if Crosby had delivered the same hit that Scott did, nobody would be writing articles. In fact they would probably be blaming the guy that got hit. I, like many sabres fans am disgusted by this organization right now but the criticism from people outside the fanbase an local media is just out of hand. Its only when the sabres do something wrong then people jump on them. Nobody outside of the sabres fans and local media called for Lucic to be banned when he decided to run full speed into Miller. In fact they blamed the sabres for THAT incident too.

The fact is that GMs hire guys like Scott because the league's disciplinary measures are a total crapshoot. Scott's a bottom pairing defenseman that gets a paycheck to fight, to enforce the unwritten rules and send a message when deemed necessary. He's really not out there with malicious intent to injure people - he's in his 7th NHL season, and has never before been fined or suspended. His hit on Eriksson is definitely suspendable, i'm guessing 4-6 games, asa first-time offender.

180 games in 7 seasons and the Sabres are his 4th team. Maybe the reason he hasn't been suspended before is because he hardly ever plays.

Warlordtrooper:I have to say this. Look at all the other incidents this year that results in injuries. Why aren't all the experts out there calling for anyone elses head over those hits. Where was mike milbury calling for the head of Kessel when he used his stick as a goddamn axe this preseason

.

Like everyone else he was too busy calling for Scotts head after he jumped a skill player because the Sabres feelings were hurt.

The fact is that if Crosby had delivered the same hit that Scott did, nobody would be writing articles. In fact they would probably be blaming the guy that got hit

Crosby has done a lot of douchey things over the years but deliberate blindside head shots isn't one of them.

I, like many sabres fans am disgusted by this organization right now but the criticism from people outside the fanbase an local media is just out of hand. Its only when the sabres do something wrong then people jump on them. Nobody outside of the sabres fans and local media called for Lucic to be banned when he decided to run full speed into Miller. In fact they blamed the sabres for THAT incident too.

No the Sabres didn't get blamed for that. People didn't like the collision but at the same time Miller was out of his crease. What the Sabres got raked over the coals for was the complete lack of response to it from the team. Players like Ott and Scott were brought in specifically because of the perception that Buffalo wasn't tough enough Now there's nothing wrong with bringing in players who can TCB, but the Sabres brought in the wrong ones.

The Sabres are pathetic. Terrible management, lousy coaching, little talent. Yet us WNYers continue to pack the games, giving the Sabres absolutely no reason to put a better product on the ice. Most of the blame goes to Regier, who couldn't swing a decent trade if his life depended on it.

Flappyhead:No the Sabres didn't get blamed for that. People didn't like the collision but at the same time Miller was out of his crease. What the Sabres got raked over the coals for was the complete lack of response to it from the team. Players like Ott and Scott were brought in specifically because of the perception that Buffalo wasn't tough enough Now there's nothing wrong with bringing in players who can TCB, but the Sabres brought in the wrong ones.

Miller was out of the crease, but he got rid of the puck a full 3 strides before Lucic ran him over. The rule is pretty specific about checking a goalie, and Lucic not only had the onus to avoid him, he had the opportunity. It wasn't incidental contact; he clearly finished his check. He should have been fined at the least.

The Sabres have four teenagers dressed for their game against Florida tonight. Ristolainen, Zadorov, Grigorenko, and Girgensens all playing tonight. The last time they dressed four teenagers was 1983. The last time *ANY* NHL team dressed four teenagers was 1996.

That tells you everything you need to know about why the Sabres are bad. All this business about Kaleta and Scott is a sideshow.

It's not that the Sabres lack talent. They have a load of talented players, but that talent is young and inexperienced.

This will be a much better team in two years. Really looking forward to seeing all these young players develop.